,UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS
May/June 2025
HRM3705
Compensation Management
75 marks
Duration: Three (3) hours
EXAMINERS:
FIRST EXAMINER: Dr ML Bezuidenhout
SECOND EXAMINER: Dr AM Furtak
MODERATOR: Mrs JDK Steyn
This paper consists of six (6) pages.
Instructions
1. Start with a cover page stating themodule code (HRM3705) and your student number.
2. The cover page should be followed by your answers to the questions. Note that all three
questions are compulsory. There are no elective questions.
3. There is no need for a table of contents, an introduction, a conclusion or a list of references.
Simply answer all the questions.
4. Number each question and sub-question clearly.
5. Facts must be written out in complete, well-formulated sentences. No marks will be awarded for
vague or single-word answers.
6. Students suspected of dishonest conduct during the examination will be subjected to
disciplinary processes. Unisa has a zero tolerance for plagiarism and/or any other forms
of academic dishonesty.
7. Ensure that you submit a declaration of honesty on myUnisa.
8. Ensure that your PDF document (answer file) isnot encrypted to a “secured” mode and that it is
not password protected since secured or password-protected files cannot be marked. Virus-
infected files will not be marked. The maximum file size is20 Mb.
9. No late or e-mailed submissions will be accepted.
10. Submit your answers in a single PDF document on the myExams platform
(https://myexams.unisa.ac.za/portal). Go to Take-Home or Portfolio Exam (File Upload) On
myExams for details on the steps that you should follow.
, lOMoARcPSD| 18998289
COVER PAGE
Module code: HRM3705
Semester and year of registration: Semester 1, 2025
Full name:
Student number:
QUESTION 1
1.1 Conflicts Between Performance-Based Executive Bonuses and Ubuntu
Principles
The executive bonus plans are generally devised to provide the top managers with a
chance to motivate them to meet a given financial or operational goal. The official
instruction, nevertheless, on personal or administrative effectiveness can however go
against the large-scale neighborhood principles inherent within Ubuntu, where group
welfare, social equity, and universal uplift all occur. There might be a number of
conflicts that follow:
• Individual Reward Versus Collective Good: whereby when an organisation
rewards highly its top executives only, one might assume that the organisation
is not concerned about the other working population and this is contrary to what
Ubuntu is all about which is to take care of everyone in community at large.
• Moral Impression and Salary Gap: Salaries dissimilarity can be amplified by
big-pays of executive bonuses and this leads to inequality, which is attractive
to the Need-to-belong to both men and women. Ubuntu requires a bit of
sympathy and justice but give and take gaps in terms of remuneration may
, lOMoARcPSD| 18998289
seem unjust especially at a time when other employees of the workplace either
experience wage freeze or lose their jobs.
• Conflicts When There is Organisational Hardship: An incurring loss of storelevel
performance and retrenchment, and at the same time a significant amount of
executive bonuses may evoke ethical issues and the charge of exploitation.
Ubuntu preaches the spirit of cooperation and burden shared amongst a tough
period but at the same time a one-sided emphasis on executive incentivisation
can be seen in clear contrast to a communal spirit.
• Loss of Trust: Labor and any outsider could not be confident with a bonus
system which seems to be self-interested. Ubuntu aims at fostering harmonious
relationships; a perceived incompatibility between high executive rewards, and
small payoffs to others, undermines harmonious relationships.
• Social and Reputational Pressures: Fairness and ethics of organisations
operating in South Africa can be questioned and a purely financially focused
bonus scheme is likely to spark social and reputational damage especially in a
society where principles of Ubuntu are felt on the societal and cultural level.
• Underestimate of Non-Financial Performance: Non-financial performance like
training others, sharing skills and ensuring solidarity may remain unaccounted
in a pure performance-based regime. Ubuntu considers these relational
contributions as useful to organisational harmony and would cause conflict in
case the bonus system can only reward a narrow performance parameter.
Any executive incentive plan must balance the legitimate need for performance
alignment with the broader socio-cultural expectation of equity, concern for collective
welfare, and moral responsibility.
1.2 Revised Bonus Distribution Model Balancing Fairness, Performance, and
Ethical Governance
The Remuneration Committee (RemCo) can adopt a bonus distribution model
reflecting both strong performance drivers and Ubuntu-inspired fairness as follows: (a)
Financial and Non-Financial Recognition Mechanisms
May/June 2025
HRM3705
Compensation Management
75 marks
Duration: Three (3) hours
EXAMINERS:
FIRST EXAMINER: Dr ML Bezuidenhout
SECOND EXAMINER: Dr AM Furtak
MODERATOR: Mrs JDK Steyn
This paper consists of six (6) pages.
Instructions
1. Start with a cover page stating themodule code (HRM3705) and your student number.
2. The cover page should be followed by your answers to the questions. Note that all three
questions are compulsory. There are no elective questions.
3. There is no need for a table of contents, an introduction, a conclusion or a list of references.
Simply answer all the questions.
4. Number each question and sub-question clearly.
5. Facts must be written out in complete, well-formulated sentences. No marks will be awarded for
vague or single-word answers.
6. Students suspected of dishonest conduct during the examination will be subjected to
disciplinary processes. Unisa has a zero tolerance for plagiarism and/or any other forms
of academic dishonesty.
7. Ensure that you submit a declaration of honesty on myUnisa.
8. Ensure that your PDF document (answer file) isnot encrypted to a “secured” mode and that it is
not password protected since secured or password-protected files cannot be marked. Virus-
infected files will not be marked. The maximum file size is20 Mb.
9. No late or e-mailed submissions will be accepted.
10. Submit your answers in a single PDF document on the myExams platform
(https://myexams.unisa.ac.za/portal). Go to Take-Home or Portfolio Exam (File Upload) On
myExams for details on the steps that you should follow.
, lOMoARcPSD| 18998289
COVER PAGE
Module code: HRM3705
Semester and year of registration: Semester 1, 2025
Full name:
Student number:
QUESTION 1
1.1 Conflicts Between Performance-Based Executive Bonuses and Ubuntu
Principles
The executive bonus plans are generally devised to provide the top managers with a
chance to motivate them to meet a given financial or operational goal. The official
instruction, nevertheless, on personal or administrative effectiveness can however go
against the large-scale neighborhood principles inherent within Ubuntu, where group
welfare, social equity, and universal uplift all occur. There might be a number of
conflicts that follow:
• Individual Reward Versus Collective Good: whereby when an organisation
rewards highly its top executives only, one might assume that the organisation
is not concerned about the other working population and this is contrary to what
Ubuntu is all about which is to take care of everyone in community at large.
• Moral Impression and Salary Gap: Salaries dissimilarity can be amplified by
big-pays of executive bonuses and this leads to inequality, which is attractive
to the Need-to-belong to both men and women. Ubuntu requires a bit of
sympathy and justice but give and take gaps in terms of remuneration may
, lOMoARcPSD| 18998289
seem unjust especially at a time when other employees of the workplace either
experience wage freeze or lose their jobs.
• Conflicts When There is Organisational Hardship: An incurring loss of storelevel
performance and retrenchment, and at the same time a significant amount of
executive bonuses may evoke ethical issues and the charge of exploitation.
Ubuntu preaches the spirit of cooperation and burden shared amongst a tough
period but at the same time a one-sided emphasis on executive incentivisation
can be seen in clear contrast to a communal spirit.
• Loss of Trust: Labor and any outsider could not be confident with a bonus
system which seems to be self-interested. Ubuntu aims at fostering harmonious
relationships; a perceived incompatibility between high executive rewards, and
small payoffs to others, undermines harmonious relationships.
• Social and Reputational Pressures: Fairness and ethics of organisations
operating in South Africa can be questioned and a purely financially focused
bonus scheme is likely to spark social and reputational damage especially in a
society where principles of Ubuntu are felt on the societal and cultural level.
• Underestimate of Non-Financial Performance: Non-financial performance like
training others, sharing skills and ensuring solidarity may remain unaccounted
in a pure performance-based regime. Ubuntu considers these relational
contributions as useful to organisational harmony and would cause conflict in
case the bonus system can only reward a narrow performance parameter.
Any executive incentive plan must balance the legitimate need for performance
alignment with the broader socio-cultural expectation of equity, concern for collective
welfare, and moral responsibility.
1.2 Revised Bonus Distribution Model Balancing Fairness, Performance, and
Ethical Governance
The Remuneration Committee (RemCo) can adopt a bonus distribution model
reflecting both strong performance drivers and Ubuntu-inspired fairness as follows: (a)
Financial and Non-Financial Recognition Mechanisms
